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Posted on Mon, Mar 12, 2012 : 2:47 p.m.

University of Michigan launches new sustainability fellowship with $10M gift from Dow Chemical

By Kellie Woodhouse

Six months after launching a $14 million campus sustainability initiative, the University of Michigan will begin a sustainability fellowship program aimed at researching and promoting sustainability not only in Ann Arbor, but throughout the world.

Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris and University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman discuss a new sustainability fellows program in Detroit Monday.

U-M plans to bring 300 sustainability scholars —masters and doctoral students with specialized knowledge ranging from chemistry to public policy to economics to law— to U-M over the next six years through the fellowship program.

"They will be inspired to work together as they would in the real world to develop concrete solutions, actionable solutions to how we can all live cleaner ... and greener," said Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris. "It's an imperative that we reduce our carbon emissions and that we reduce our footprint."

Coleman said the new fellowship won't be rooted in any one center or school at the university, but will be as "broad and comprehensive as sustainability itself."

The fellows will study sustainability as it relates to energy, climate change, water, food, housing, transportation and health.

The university recently hired more than 30 faculty who specialize in sustainability. U-M has an additional 670 faculty with some level of expertise in sustainability. More than 330 U-M alumni work for Dow Chemical.

"If you believe that one person can make a difference, consider what three hundred people can do," Coleman said. "That’s a seismic shift."

The program includes one- and two-year fellowships for master's, doctoral and postdoctoral students and a supporting lecture series focused on sharing sustainability research and best practices.

Sustainability fellowships currently exist at Harvard University, the National Science Foundation, the International Alliance of Research Universities and Carnegie Mellon University.

Monday's announcement follows a $14 million sustainability initiative Coleman unveiled in September. That money will go toward reducing runoff on campus, making buildings more energy efficient and purchasing hybrid vehicles, among other initiatives.

Comments

Jim Gerard

Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 8:22 p.m.

TOXIC TRAIN SAFETY - A First Responders Petition caused The Chlorine Institute to conduct a five-month study comparing the safety of secondary containment to the chlorine &quot;C&quot;-Kit for chlorine tank cars. The study proved secondary containment to be, by far, the safest technology for containing and preventing releases of chlorine gas. To see secondary containment - search &quot;CHLORTANKER.&quot;

Rudy Caparros

Fri, Jan 11, 2013 : 8:21 p.m.

TOXIC TRAIN SAFETY - A First Responders Petition caused The Chlorine Institute to conduct a five-month study comparing the safety of secondary containment to the chlorine &quot;C&quot;-Kit for chlorine tank cars. The study proved secondary containment to be, by far, the safest technology for containing and preventing releases of chlorine gas. To see secondary containment - search &quot;CHLORTANKER.&quot;

silo

Sat, Apr 21, 2012 : 10:28 p.m.

Kellie Woodhouse: any follow-up to the allegations in the Huffington Post? http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carol-polsgrove/university-of-michigans-dow-chemical_b_1439096.html

BobbyJohn

Tue, Mar 13, 2012 : 4:09 p.m.

Sustainability is good for all, as long as it is done in an intelligent fashion. U of M can start by doing the simple, easy, no-brainer things first. Things like not overheating or overcooling buildings. Also, walking around campus for 30 minutes last week, I saw OVER 100 outside lights on during broad daylight hours. Please do the truly efficient things and stop waste first. It is the most efficient and cost effective way to be sustainable.

shepard145

Wed, Mar 14, 2012 : 4:10 a.m.

This is not about turning off lights, it's about eco fascism and getting the political power then need to control American personal lives. They have decided that US Voters have too much freedom and no longer know what is good for themselves.
Vote like your future depends on it.

enemyofthepeople

Tue, Mar 13, 2012 : 12:46 p.m.

The manufacturer of chemical warfare agents, carcinogens, poisons and pollutants continues its massive campaign to rehabilitate its image. And the premiere university of the state where this criminal corporation made many of those deadly chemicals, resulting in massive contamination of soil and water, partners with Dow in this campaign. <a href="http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/03/02/dow-chemical-and-the-olympic-movement/" rel='nofollow'>http://www.counterpunch.org/2012/03/02/dow-chemical-and-the-olympic-movement/</a>

shepard145

Tue, Mar 13, 2012 : 2:32 a.m.

Three billion spent on the Volt, a $43,000 compact car that nobody wants and will soon be discontinued, $500,000,000 for Solyndra now bankrupt and billions more TAX DOLLARS sliding away in the same direction. ...what's another $10,000,000 of Dow's money wasted on eco hysteric programs at UM that nobody wants or needs.
Unless they will begin the world's first Global Warming study that is not a fudged train wreck guided by eco hysterics, central planning socialists and other fools? How much MONEY can I get for that? ...oh but a reporter with a degree in reading/writing has already declared the &quot;debate over&quot; and science settled in 2004! LOL
The sad thing is that these people are wasting economic and intellectual resources in pursuit of an eco fantasy that has no value in our economy. We live in a scientific and journalistic dark age void of sensible adult leadership. Future generations of Americans will pay a very high price for all of this in the form of a tragic fall in quality of life and standard of living ...sad.
Vote in November like your future depends on it.

shepard145

Wed, Mar 14, 2012 : 4:07 a.m.

The point is that the basis for all this eco nonsense is a lie - that American consumers control the earth's weather and that the planet is running out of oil. Both complete nonsense yet obama thinks forcing this fraud on the US economy using central planning socialism is the right thing to do.....as does Mary Sue at UM.
The notion that resources are &quot;used up&quot; and something bad happens is fundamentally wrong. A functioning free market economy endlessly adapts to supply and demand. In a century or so when oil gets more expensive to bring to market, that market will adjust and the most efficient, lowest cost substitute will replace it through innovation.....if the market is not poisoned by a nanny state socialist government.
Dim wits like obama and his democrat stooges deciding that it's time for electric cars today is central planning socialism and FAILS EVERY TIME. ...as you will witness first hand as solar companies continue to go out of business and the Volt is discontinued because of poor sales.

clownfish

Tue, Mar 13, 2012 : 2:11 p.m.

Wow. Tying Solyndra into a grant from a private company! Amazing.
Gee, I thought the root of conservative was &quot;conserve&quot;- 1.
a. To protect from loss or harm; preserve: calls to conserve our national heritage in the face of bewildering change.
b. To use carefully or sparingly, avoiding waste
Guess not. I guess we should use up resources as fast as we can so that what is left for our kids will gain more $ on the open market.

JRW

Tue, Mar 13, 2012 : 1:33 a.m.

&quot;They will be inspired to work together as they would in the real world to develop concrete solutions, actionable solutions to how we can all live cleaner ... and greener,&quot; said Dow Chemical CEO Andrew Liveris. &quot;It's an imperative that we reduce our carbon emissions and that we reduce our footprint.&quot;
How about cleaning up the dioxin in Michigan so we can all &quot;live cleaner and greener,&quot; Mr. Liveris. What &quot;actionable&quot; solutions do you have for the dioxin cleanup? Gotta love the catchy phrases and soundbites this CEO throws around.

G. Orwell

Mon, Mar 12, 2012 : 11:46 p.m.

I think this proves that &quot;sustainability&quot; is not meant to save the earth. The real agenda behind &quot;sustainability&quot; is very disturbing.

G. Orwell

Mon, Mar 12, 2012 : 11:37 p.m.

We are taking money for &quot;sustainability&quot; from a company that profits from GMOs and pesticides? There is absolutely no danger from CO2. The real danger lies with GMOs that are known to cause sterility and cancer and toxic chemicals contaminating our soil and water. I guess Dow wants to indoctrinate the students while they are young and naive through the University. <a href="http://www.thetruthaboutdow.org/section.php?id=36" rel='nofollow'>http://www.thetruthaboutdow.org/section.php?id=36</a>

trespass

Mon, Mar 12, 2012 : 9:55 p.m.

Dow Chemical is in the news because the Chinese government had directed one of their Chinese born employees to steal trade secrets. This was one of the first really well documented spy cases where they were able to tie it directly to Chinese Communist Party officials. President Coleman on the other hand refuses to meet with the FBI to talk about espionage concerns and tells the FBI office that their agents are not welcome on campus. It seems like an odd pairing.

JRW

Mon, Mar 12, 2012 : 7:38 p.m.

I'm sure UM is happy to get this money from Dow Chemical. I guess their history of dumping dioxin doesn't matter where big bucks are concerned.
By the way, whatever happened to that class action lawsuit against Dow for contaminating the Tittabawassee River in Saginaw and Midland counties with dangerous amounts of dioxin. Almost the entire 22 mile stretch of the Tittabawassee River 100 year floodplain down river of the Midland Dow site was contaminated. Dow's effluents then flowed into and contaminated the Saginaw River, Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron resulting in one of the most extensive and highly dioxin contaminated sites in the country. Anyone know the status of this class action lawsuit?

Rob

Mon, Mar 12, 2012 : 7:38 p.m.

How about spending the money to clean up the dioxin in the Tittabawassee river? Considering the decades Dow's fought to keep from having to live up to that responsibility, it's hard to see this as anything other than a cheap (at least for a corporation the size of Dow) bit of good PR. It's unfortunate that the University of Michigan has allowed itself to be a party to the rehabilitation of the public image of one of the world's most destructive polluters.